Table of Contents

Introduction 1. The Delphic Maxim in Medieval Islam and Judaism 2. "The Ladder of Ascension” 3. Ibn Bājja on Man’s Ultimate Felicity 4. Essence and Existence in Maimonides 5. A Note on the Rabbinic Doctrine of Creation 6. Saadya’s Theory of Revelation: It’s Origin and Background 7. Eleazar of Worms’ Symbol of the Merkabah 8. The Motif of the "Shells" in Azriel of Gerona 9. Moses Narboni’s "Epistle on Shi ur Qomā" 10. William Wollaston: English Deist and Rabbinic Scholar 11. Moses Mendelssohn on Leibniz and Spinoza 12. Franz Rosenzweig on History

About the Author

Alexander Altmann was formerly rabbi of the Berlin Jewish Community then communal rabbi of Manchester, where he founded and directed the Institute of Jewish Studies, now part of University College London. He moved to Brandeis University in Massachusetts as the Philip W. Lown Professor of Jewish Philosophy and History of Ideas in 1959 and was a leading Mendelssohn scholar.